Landscapes

Here are a few more photos from my recent adventure on St. George Island, in Alaska’s Pribilof Island Group. I have been working on editing the nearly 3,000 photos created over those 3 days. The “Selects” have been narrowed to a much more manageable group of around 30 images.  That is 1 “Select” image out of every 100 clicks of the shutter. There is an old-ish saying that I first heard from Galen Rowell, “The difference between a professional and an amateur photographer is that a professional takes more bad photographs.” Over the past few years, I’ve been focusing more on my landscape photography. St. George Island gave me a very unique opportunity to shift my main focus to the incredible wildlife, albeit with a few...

To quote Jodie Foster’s portrayal of Dr. Ellie Arroway in Robert Zemeckis’ “Contact”: No words to describe it. Poetry! They should’ve sent a poet. Alaska has been kind to me. I’ve visited locations most photographers dream of & seen things most will never witness. But Alaska is always full of surprises. I spent the past 4 days at a location that I’ve been dreaming of visiting for several years. St. George Island sits just 45 miles to the east of the Continental Shelf. In this region, everything about the Earth’s crust is precipitous. If you were able to stand atop the ‘cliffs’ above the Continental Shelf, you’d already be in nearly 600 feet of water. But vanishing into the blackness below would...

Hartney Bay has a lot to offer, photographically, and I visit it often whenever I am in Cordova. In early May, hundreds of thousands of birds use the bay as a resting ground as they migrate north to the Arctic Slope. During June (while guiding my tour), it is not uncommon to find moose wandering the Slough side, amongst tall grasses and wading through the shallow stream. Eagles circle overhead, and bear scat can be found without too much searching. Who can blame the animals for spending time in the area? It’s incredibly beautiful; with the Orca Inlet  across the bay, and Hartney Slough leading to Heney Ridge further inland. At high tide, the salt water of the eastern Prince William Sound invades the fresh water coursing down from the mountain, and the...

I am a finally settling back into a ‘normal’ rhythm after returning from my Wild Lands & Wild Life: Cordova Photo Tour, this past Saturday. After over a full week on the road, with many late nights, a few very early rises and a mid-tour hard hitting virus, this tour was a tour de force. And soooooo worth it! The clients had an excellent time. One of the clients even cried. “Wait. I thought you said you had an ‘excellent time’, Dave?” My client (who shall go un-identified) was seated next to me during one of our aerial photography sessions. I turned towards them mid-flight and caught the glint of a tear rolling down their cheek. I asked if everything was ok. The reply was so poignant. “It’s...

Australian professional landscape photographer (and fellow Fstop gear user!), Christian Fletcher, is having a great discussion over on his site. It’s in regards to creating art that people haven’t seen, particularly in photography. Photographers far more elegant than me have handled this topic before. Here in America, one of my friends and ‘phantom mentors’, Guy Tal has said: “Photograph for yourself and satisfy your own sensibilities and aesthetics. True artists do not pander to a pre-selected audience. Instead, they carve an audience of their own from those who will encounter and be moved by their work.” “The best way to use your imagination is simply to not stand in its way.” I think he’s right. We have to shoot for...

“Entangled”, Chugach National Forest, Alaska. ©2011 Dave Taylor/Sixtyone North (Canon 5D Mk 2, Tokina 16-28/2.8 @ 16mm. 0.5″ @ f/18, ISO 400) I don’t work much in black & white photography. I think I must be the only photographer that skipped past the darkroom and dove directly into chromes. Well, let me make one thing clear – I never ‘skipped’. And no, there was no ‘prancing’, either. It’s always funny, talking with other photographers whose career started before the advent of digital – many of them speak with a great reverence and that certain ‘twinkle’ in their eye(s) when it comes to the time they used to spend in the darkroom. “I really miss the smell”. Of...